Exclusive Interview with On-chain Expert: Unveiling Professional Airdrop Farming Strategies and Mindset Management

Author: Deep Tide TechFlow

Original Title: Exclusive Interview with an On-chain Expert: How Can an Ordinary Person Get Rich from Airdrop Farming in Crypto?

On September 17, 2025, $Aster TGE launched and officially went live on Binance Alpha. CZ publicly promoted it on X, and within 24 hours, $Aster's price soared by 1650% at its peak, with trading volume reaching $310 million and the platform's total trading volume surpassing $1.5 billion.

After the airdrop distribution, the price continued to climb. Currently, $Aster's price is stable at around $2.1, with a 7-day increase of over 2000%.

As $Aster TGE reignited the market, many KOLs discussed it as the "largest airdrop farming in history," with quite a few people earning millions from a single token.

Crypto airdrop farming KOL Wenxue@wenxue600 (On-chain Expert) also achieved a good result. He sold 98,000 $Aster tokens at $0.11, which he regrets, but this operation still brought him considerable returns.

Even more impressive is his investment legend with Pudgy Penguins: In 2021, he bought a Penguin NFT for 0.7 ETH (about $2,800), and later received unexpected returns through various external airdrops from related projects. Wenxue mentioned in the interview, "I used the money from these airdrops to buy a house in a good school district, which gave me a great sense of accomplishment."

From entering the crypto space in 2018 due to Xu Xiaoping's phrase "embrace blockchain," to quitting his job at the end of 2021 to become a full-time airdrop farming blogger, Wenxue has witnessed the industry's evolution from frenzy to calm, from simplicity to complexity. In this highly speculative niche, he has proven over more than three years that professional airdrop farming is not just a game of luck, but a comprehensive test of information acquisition, risk management, and execution.

Now, as more studios flood into the airdrop farming track and the living space for retail investors is increasingly squeezed, how did this KOL, who transitioned from traditional media, achieve results? How does he view industry changes? How does he filter out truly valuable opportunities from the sea of projects?

Key Takeaways

• Transition from Venture Media to Airdrop Farming Blogger: The best way to get into an industry is still through media. After feeling a career bottleneck at an exchange, he discovered a market gap for high-quality overseas content creators and decided to quit and become an independent media creator.

• Pudgy Penguins Investment Legend: Bought a Pudgy Penguin NFT in 2021 for 0.7 ETH ($2,800), held it simply because he liked it. Later, he received $70,000–$80,000 in airdrops from various external projects and directly used the airdrop money to buy a house in a good school district, which gave him a great sense of accomplishment.

• Rational Exit from the $Aster Project: The expected price was $0.1. With a cost of $20 for 2,000 tokens, a 10x return was already very good. No regrets about selling early; the airdrop farming mindset is to get results quickly, cash out, and move on to the next project.

• Multi-dimensional Project Due Diligence: Look at the track's popularity, amount of financing, background of investors, and team origins. For projects exclusively invested by Binance, just follow blindly. European and American funds are better than domestic ones; most wary of Indian and domestic teams' projects.

• Biggest Change in the Airdrop Farming Track: The most obvious change is that it's getting more competitive, with whales diluting retail investors' points. But airdrop farming will persist long-term because projects need users and users need returns—this supply-demand relationship always exists. Projects, exchanges, VCs, and airdrop farmers are in a game of mutual competition and symbiosis, all indispensable.

• Survival Strategies for Retail Investors: Suggests diversification—do both on-chain interactions and community contributions, turning output into other identities. Solo operations are dead; professional team collaboration is mainstream.

• Lessons from the BTC Ecosystem: Participated in many inscriptions, runes, and other assets, fantasizing about cashing out in one wave, but most went to zero. Believe that 99.9% of sentiment-driven assets will go to zero; set expectations and take profits in time.

• Importance of Mindset Management: No one is a god; it's impossible to always sell at the top, not even Buffett. The important thing is to meet your own expectations and build multi-dimensional sources of accomplishment.

• Future Directions: More optimistic about StandX in the Perp DEX direction, also founded by former Binance and OKX teams, with big early-stage opportunities. Most looking forward to Abstract Chain (Pudgy Penguins ecosystem L2), whose gameplay is not easily farmed by studios. Pudgy Penguins' parent company may go public in the US, and the ETF application is likely to be approved.

• Satisfaction as an Airdrop Farming Blogger: The greatest sense of accomplishment is not how much you farmed yourself, but receiving thanks from fans who made money through discovering projects and sharing tutorials—this feeling is indescribable.

Leaving the Internet, Quitting the Exchange, and Entering the Airdrop Farming Track

Deep Tide TechFlow: How did you get into the crypto industry?

On-chain Expert: I previously worked in traditional internet venture media. 2016–2017 was the peak of entrepreneurship, with bike-sharing, various O2O, B2B, B2C models all very popular.

At the beginning of 2018, Xu Xiaoping's message in the entrepreneur group went viral, basically calling on everyone to embrace blockchain, saying things like "those who follow will prosper, those who resist will perish."

I was already doing venture media and had come into contact with some blockchain projects, so from that point, I started to seriously learn about it. After learning, I found that compared to traditional internet tracks, blockchain really offered big opportunities. In 2017–2018, various ICOs grew wildly, and many people got rich overnight.

At that time, I thought the best way to get into an industry was still through media.

In mid-2018, I joined a leading crypto media outlet at the time, starting from scratch, learning all kinds of blockchain concepts and technologies, researching and producing content at the same time.

During my time in media, I experienced many major industry events: EOS mainnet launch in 2018, DeFi mining, Bitcoin halving, BCH fork, exchange wars, etc. Although the market wasn't good then, the industry was very lively.

Two years in media gave me a thorough understanding of the whole track, but as you know, media work is a lot of work for little pay (laughs). I then set two directions: one was to go into VC, because you can directly invest in projects and get first-hand information; the other was to join an exchange. These two are basically at the top of the industry.

Later, I joined a leading exchange, mainly doing copywriting, but after a while, I felt a clear career bottleneck.

On one hand, as a newcomer, it's hard to get promoted quickly at a large exchange—the cycle is long, and writing isn't core business, so it's basically a dead-end job. I felt that if I wanted big results in this industry, I couldn't develop in a step-by-step way.

Secondly, I like to research new things. During the first wave of DeFi Summer in 2021, many people in the marketing department didn't even have wallets, didn't participate in mining, and didn't know about LP impermanent loss. I thought the information was too closed, but there were actually many opportunities in the industry.

The third turning point was discovering an industry pain point. In 2021, domestic regulation was strict, major finance bloggers were banned, and moved from Weibo to Twitter, but there was a lack of high-quality overseas content creators. We had budgets but couldn't find suitable channels, so I joked with colleagues, "Why not just do it ourselves?"

Coincidentally, my child was just born that year, and I wanted to spend more time with my family. Since the market was good, I thought, "Why not do something on my own?"

Deep Tide TechFlow: How did you get into airdrop farming after quitting?

On-chain Expert: When I quit at the end of 2021, although I had early airdrop experiences like Uniswap, there wasn't a dedicated "airdrop farming" concept yet—it was more about participating as an on-chain player. I just decided to do independent media, but hadn't figured out the specifics.

At that time, blockchain gaming was hot. I deeply participated in the Wolf Game community, posting project updates like a broadcaster, chatting and holding meetings in the community every day. Since my own assets were involved, I was highly motivated. This also helped me accumulate my first batch of followers.

After blockchain gaming cooled down, I started focusing on overseas channels. I used the time feeding my baby at midnight to browse Twitter, translating Vitalik's articles and overseas research reports to post on my WeChat public account as soon as possible. Coming from media, I knew the importance of "original + first release." Some viral content posted at night would get many whitelist requests from other media the next day.

In 2021, there were very few Chinese Twitter users, and almost no bloggers focused on airdrop farming—top bloggers mainly focused on the secondary market. Later, I moved from WeChat to Twitter, sharing NFT whitelist info, project fundraising participation methods, and other "wealth code" content. With just a few thousand followers, each "wealth code" tweet could get tens of thousands of views, making me realize this was a blue ocean market.

After that, I started focusing on the airdrop farming track, participating in various projects like Arbitrum, and was recommended by some top KOLs in the airdrop farming space, gradually building my own following.

Investment Review: Missed the Top on $Aster, But No Regrets

Deep Tide TechFlow: Can you share your experience of getting results with the $Aster project?

On-chain Expert: My gains from $Aster were quite good. My main account got 98,000 tokens, and my sub-accounts got about 1,500–2,000 each. At the highest value, it reached $200,000, but I sold too early.

Actually, I knew about this project early on because a VC friend introduced it to me, and I also knew about its relationship with Binance. There was a chance to invest in the private round, but since the allocation wasn't as much as I expected, I didn't take it out of frustration, which turned out to be a real miss (laughs).

Since I didn't get into the private round, I could only participate in their activities. The activities were mainly two parts: one was depositing money to earn deposit points, and the other was trading to earn trading points. Because I knew the project well, I started depositing from the beginning, and after that, I just waited for the airdrop.

Deep Tide TechFlow: Were there any key operational points?

On-chain Expert: There were two key reminders. The first was a new user referral event with trading volume thresholds of $10,000, $100,000, and $1 million, unlocking corresponding points upon completion. After evaluating, I felt this event had a high cost-performance ratio—completing it as a new user was much more worthwhile than as an old user.

To be honest, old users were all defending their rights during that event, but that just meant new users should go all in. I posted my entire analysis on Twitter, and the strategy was to farm 100 accounts, each with $100,000 trading volume, and also reminded my group.

The second key reminder was to stay active after the event ended, as there might be loyalty rewards. It turned out I was right—those who kept trading after the event got at least a few hundred tokens per account, with the highest around 1,000.

Deep Tide TechFlow: What were your profit expectations for this project? Any regrets about selling early?

On-chain Expert: Yes, my expected price was $0.1, and $0.5 was already beyond expectations. Based on our costs, after the airdrop, about $20 could get 2,000 tokens, so at $0.1 that's $200, a 10x return, which is already very good for airdrop farming.

The private round valuation I heard was $200 million, so at $0.1 that's an $800 million market cap, which is reasonable. I didn't expect it to keep rising after $0.5, but I had already sold.

As for selling early, I don't really regret it, because I already met my expectations. Our airdrop farming mindset is different from the secondary market—it's about getting results quickly, cashing out, and moving on to the next project to keep the funds rolling. The secondary market focuses more on long-term holding, as they enter later and with large capital, so even a double is a big return.

Deep Tide TechFlow: Because of $Aster's surge, many are now focusing on the perps DEX track. What are your thoughts?

On-chain Expert: The whole track is hot now, so you definitely have to participate, but it's very hard to get big airdrops as easily as with $Aster.

I'm watching several hot projects and farming them, but my expectations aren't as high as $Aster. It's too competitive now, with many whales constantly trading, basically diluting all the retail investors' points. It's a bit late to join now, unless you put in several times more effort than others, it's hard to get big returns.

By comparison, I'm more optimistic about StandX, also started by people from Binance. This project is still very early; you can only participate in depositing, forming LP (Liquidity Provider, earning fees by providing liquidity), or Swap (token swapping), and the contract product hasn't launched yet, earliest in October.

So for contracts, everyone's starting line is the same. Once contracts launch, go all in—the early stage offers bigger opportunities.

As for the future of the track, airdrop farmers don't really care that much. We're very practical: either invest time and effort, or put in some money to bet on projects, and as long as you get a good return when tokens launch, that's enough.

As for how the track or projects will do, honestly, most airdrop farmers don't care (laughs). I just earn within my knowledge and ability range; the big stuff has nothing to do with me—just follow the rhythm and make money.

Deep Tide TechFlow: What's your most impressive or successful airdrop farming experience?

On-chain Expert: Definitely Pudgy Penguins. This counts as both airdrop farming and investment.

I started paying attention to NFTs at the end of 2021, as they were very hot then, including Pudgy Penguins, Bored Apes, and many other star projects.

I liked Pudgy Penguins from the start, but missed the mint, so I had to buy on the secondary market.

Pudgy Penguins exploded at launch, rising to several ETH in a short time. ETH was very valuable then, $3,000–$4,000 each, so it was quite expensive.

I didn't buy immediately, but kept watching. Later, one day I saw it drop below 1 ETH, and at 0.7 ETH I started buying. I held on simply because I liked it, even if it went to zero, I thought it looked good.

I really didn't expect such returns later.

When I bought, the whole Penguin community was chaotic. The first team did a terrible job, leading to a split and many scandals, looking for someone to take over. Later, Luca Netz took over, the project got on track, and the price kept rising.

It even rose during the bear market, and later token launches were completely unexpected. Basically, just by holding, I caught a series of good things.

Pudgy Penguins later received many project airdrops. The external airdrops for one Penguin were estimated at $70,000–$80,000, and after the token launch, holders got another very generous airdrop—almost unprecedented.

The only comparable one might be Bored Apes, but for Penguins to achieve this in last year's market was amazing. I directly used this airdrop to buy a house in a good school district for my child, which gave me a great sense of accomplishment.

Deep Tide TechFlow: On the flip side, do you have any particularly regrettable airdrop farming experiences? What lessons did you learn from failures?

On-chain Expert: The most regrettable was the BTC ecosystem. I participated in many inscriptions, runes, cards, etc.—basically, I had a lot of the hot assets.

The BTC ecosystem was crazy then; an asset could multiply several times on launch day, and I fantasized about cashing out in one wave with these assets.

But I didn't expect the hype to end as quickly as it started. When prices fell, I was reluctant to cut losses, and most assets went to zero. The shrinkage was huge—so much that I don't want to calculate it.

In my view, you have to stick to your bottom line in trading. Believe that 99.9% of sentiment-driven assets will go to zero. The ones that survive are extremely rare—don't fantasize that your inscription is the next ORDI; those claiming to be "the next" basically fail.

Once you understand this, set an expectation for yourself—take profits when you reach a certain amount, and if you want to gamble, leave a portion. Don't expect to get rich all at once—that's very, very hard.

Multi-dimensional Due Diligence, Keep a Calm Mindset

Deep Tide TechFlow: With so many new projects in the market, how do you filter out those worth paying attention to?

On-chain Expert: It's actually very similar to VC due diligence—I look at many dimensions.

First, look at the track—either it's hot now or has good prospects for the future. Then look at the amount of financing; more money means higher necessity to participate.

Investors are also important. I look at two aspects: first, the investor's past cases—if they've invested in successful projects, you can prioritize following them; second, the background of the institution—whether it's a European/American fund or a domestic one. European/American ones are definitely preferred; domestic VCs and projects often run away.

Team background is also important. Now, the worst reputation is for Indian and domestic teams' projects.

For example, $Aster's most attractive feature was Binance. This project was a key early investment by Binance, whose leading position in the industry is unshakable, so you can just follow their supported projects blindly.

But there are still things to watch out for, because Binance Labs invests in many projects, but they're not all the same. Some are exclusively invested by Binance, some are just co-invested, which is less valuable. Exclusive investments are more strategic, and with full support from Binance, you can expect more.

Deep Tide TechFlow: What channels do you use to get quality project information and do due diligence?

On-chain Expert: As an online blogger, the accounts you follow from the start are basically your database. I follow exchange founders, VC institutions, project teams, etc.—these are all first-hand sources. Twitter is the most direct source of information.

For financing information, I often use ChainCatcher and RootData. RootData is most user-friendly for Chinese users, and it's comprehensive and timely—enough for beginners.

For project materials, now you can just use AI to search. I usually use Grok, put in the project's Twitter ID, and basically everything you want comes up—it's enough for airdrop farming judgment.

Airdrop Farming Will Always Exist, Retail Investors Should Diversify

Deep Tide TechFlow: What obvious changes have you seen in the airdrop farming track in recent years? Will it continue long-term?

On-chain Expert: The most obvious change is that it's getting more competitive. Before, you could get good returns just by participating casually; now you need more strategies, earlier positioning, and more systematic operations.

Now, more whales are entering, and their large funds directly dilute retail investors' points. So to get good returns now, you have to be earlier or work harder than others in research and execution.

But I think airdrop farming will persist long-term, because projects need users and users need returns—this supply-demand relationship always exists. It's just that the gameplay will get more complex and the threshold higher.

Projects, exchanges, VCs, and airdrop farmers are in a game of mutual competition and symbiosis, all indispensable.

Deep Tide TechFlow: What advice would you give retail investors for airdrop farming?

On-chain Expert: My advice is to diversify.

I'm a good example—at first, I did on-chain interactions myself, farming some activities, and also contributed to communities. For example, after discovering a project, I would keep producing updates and post them in the community's content channel.

After posting a lot, I would directly approach the project: I've been contributing, can you give me a higher status? Let's cooperate long-term, etc. This status itself often comes with airdrops.

The ideal state is to farm a project yourself and also produce output, turning that output into other identities, not just doing interactions or just mixing in the community.

If you do airdrop farming well, it's actually easy to build your account from 0 to 1 and establish your personal brand.

For airdrop farming bloggers, the greatest sense of accomplishment isn't how much you farmed yourself, but receiving thanks from fans who made money through discovering projects and sharing tutorials—this feeling is truly indescribable.

Deep Tide TechFlow: Are you considering a personal transition in the future?

On-chain Expert: Not really a transition—maybe just more collaboration with studios or scientists. Everyone complements each other's strengths—what resources you have, what I have, we farm together, and after getting results, we share the cake.

Professional teams and collaboration will definitely be mainstream. Solo operations can only earn from one account at best, but it's hard to get excess returns from multiple accounts.

My own energy is limited, so I don't control much myself now—the rest is handled by studios. Some need scripts, some need manual work—each project is different, and you need to develop different strategies based on the project and activity type.

That's just how it is—if you don't go deep, it's really hard.

Deep Tide TechFlow: Can you share a few unlaunched projects you're optimistic about?

On-chain Expert: I'm involved in a lot of projects now, but I'm most looking forward to Abstract Chain, the L2 project in the Pudgy Penguins ecosystem. I have high expectations for it because its gameplay isn't easily farmed by studios, and deeply involved senior players should get good returns.

Pudgy Penguins' resources are a trump card—they can leverage almost any resource you can think of, including the US government.

According to my calculations, Pudgy Penguins' parent company is fully capable of going public in the US, and with the previously applied-for ETF, it should be approved barring any surprises. If it goes through, it's not just good for the project itself, but also a big positive for the industry.

Deep Tide TechFlow: How do you maintain balance amid the monotony and psychological fluctuations of airdrop farming?

On-chain Expert: Still need to stay focused. Research new things, new projects, new gameplay, new activities every day, and keep producing output.

Build multi-dimensional sources of accomplishment—don't always think about catching the top every time, even gods can't do that. Be satisfied in time; sometimes a tweet with good views and engagement is also a sense of accomplishment.

I'm an old hand, have participated a lot, seen all kinds of ups and downs—many things that felt life-or-death at the time are trivial in hindsight, not worth internalizing.

Selling early is inevitable; what you can do is set an expected target for yourself and exit gradually after meeting it. If you're worried about selling early, keep a portion—the main goal is to participate, get results, and cash out.

No one is a god; it's impossible to always sell at the top, not even Buffett. Just meet your own expectations.

Honestly, there are many opportunities, and as you farm more, this kind of thing becomes very common—it's impossible to always catch the top, 100% impossible. The important thing is your mindset.